Letters | The terrorists win if tourists stay away from Sri Lanka

The Easter Sunday bombings have deterred visitors, hitting small local businesses hard in the island nation

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A beach in Hikkaduwa in southwest Sri Lanka, a country that was the Lonely Planet guide’s top travel destination for 2019. However, since the Easter Sunday attacks on churches and luxury hotels, foreign tourists have been reluctant to visit. Photo: AP

Published: 5:00pm, 3 Jun 2019Updated: 5:00pm, 3 Jun 2019

Every year, I spend a few days in the hills of Kandy, Sri Lanka, to escape the madding crowd of Hong Kong and to write in relative tranquillity. This time, my trip feels different.

Where are the foreign tourists? The answer is obvious but the implications of the answer are less so. The foreigners are absent because of the Islamist bombings on Easter Sunday that killed over 250 people and wounded around 500 others.

Terrorism has been defined as a practice that deters people – out of fear – from doing what they would otherwise do. On that definition, the fanatics are winning in Sri Lanka.

Their first victory was slaughtering the faithful in churches and tourists and locals in hotels. Their second victory is more protracted: impeding the ability of thousands of Sri Lankans – Buddhist, Christian and Muslim alike – to make a decent living.

A dearth of tourists means empty hotels, restaurants and beaches. It deprives countless vendors of fruit, snacks and water of the little money they need to make ends meet.

Tourists are not parasites. Their money contributes to the economy of the societies they visit. But tourists are pragmatists with an opportunist’s mindset. “Sure, it’s a shame about Sri Lanka. But there’s always India, Malaysia and Thailand to visit instead.”